FURIOUS farmer Alan Roberts scooped up a caravan with his monster JCB in a dawn raid to get squatters off his land.

The bleary-eyed traveller can only shake his fist as his mobile home is lifted into the air by the hulking machine and then unceremoniously dumped over a hedge.

Angry Alan raged: "If they want to come back for seconds they can. I am a force to be reckoned with."

The final straw came when the arrogant caravan owner bluntly refused to budge, telling Alan he would need a court order to get him evicted.

The man, whose identity is not known, had been sound asleep - but he got a rude wakeup call.

Just moments earlier Alan had used his forklift to dish out the same treatment to his old banger.

The 45-year-old farmer has been plagued by travellers camping illegally in his fields for weeks.

He had already seen off the man once, but he returned and ignored a two-hour deadline to quit the farm. A pal said: "Alan's usually quite a calm guy but he was furious when the guy refused to leave his land.

"The guy in the caravan knew the law inside out and he'd told Alan to apply for a court order to get rid of him.

"It's a busy time of year for farmers and Alan didn't really have time to go through the hassle of all that.

"Plus he was steaming with the arrogance of the bloke and wanted to show him who was boss."

Stunned locals looked on as Alan fired up the JCB and roared off across the fields towards the caravan.

The pal continued: "Nobody could quite believe what he was up to, but he was calm throughout.

"It was hilarious to see the caravan being lifted into the air and dumped on the other side of the hedge.

"Alan knew he could be in trouble about it but he couldn't see any other way to end his nightmare."

Last night it appeared the traveller had finally backed his bags and left Grange Farm, near Immingham, Lincs, for good.

Neighbouring farmers praised Alan's tough action, saying they had been targeted by poachers and joyriders in four-wheel drive cars churning up their fields.

But last night Alan admitted his extreme eviction could make him a target for trouble makers. He said: "This trouble has been winding us up so we are taking the law into our own hands.

"But I'm not sure if this is the end of it. I got the guy fairly wound up."

Police visited Grange Farm yesterday but a spokeswoman for the Humberside force said officers would not be making any arrests. She said: "Police attended but it is a civil dispute between the landowner and vehicle and caravan owner."